Method of preventng software piracy by uniquely identifying the specific magnetic storage device the software is stored on

Abstract

The present invention provides a new and novel method for generating a identification number unique to a particular magnetic storage device. In a first preferred method, areas of a storage device which are defective are located. Then specific bad bits within the bad area are determined. The locations of the bad areas plus the location of the bad bits are used to create a identification number for the particular storage device. In a second preferred method, the surface of the magnetic storage device is read in the analog domain. The amplitude variations during the read process are used to generate a identification number for the storage device. Once a identification number is determined, it is used for preventing software piracy or other uses where a specific magnetic storage device needs to be identified.

I claim: 
     
       1. A method for locking software to a specific magnetic storage device, comprising the steps of: a. detecting a location of a bad area on said specific magnetic storage device at a first point in time;   b. determining a location of a bad bit specific within the bad area on said specific magnetic storage device, wherein the step of determining the location of a bad bit includes the steps of: causing to be written into the bad area a test pattern having a plurality of bits;   then causing data having a plurality of bits to be read from the bad area;   then comparing the bits of the test pattern to the bits of the data read from the bad area; and   determining the location of a bit in said data read from the bad area that does not match an associated bit of the test pattern;     c. then storing the location on said magnetic storage device of the bad area and the location of the bad bit into an identification number storage area associated with a software program; and   d. executing the software program; and looking for said bad area and bad bit on a current magnetic storage device, wherein if, when the software program is attempted to be executed, the bad area and bad bit locations stored in the identification number storage area are found on a current magnetic storage device, said current magnetic storage device is identified as said specific magnetic storage device.   
     
     
       2. A method as in claim 1 further comprising the steps of: a. determining a plurality of bad bits within the bad area;   b. then storing the location of the bad area and the location of the bad bits into the identification number storage area; and   c. then executing the software program if, when the software program is attempted to be executed, the bad area and bad bit locations stored in the identification number storage area are found on said current magnetic storage device.   
     
     
       3. An apparatus for locking a software program to a specific magnetic storage device comprising: a detector for detecting, at a first point in time, the location of a bad area of said specific magnetic storage device and for detecting a location of a bad bit within the bad area, wherein the detector detects a bad bit by writing a test pattern in the bad area, then reads the area where the test pattern was written, compares the test pattern read against the test pattern written, and determines a bit in the read test pattern that does not match an associated bit in the written test pattern; and the detector also stores the location of the bad area and bad bit on said specific magnetic storage device in an identification storage area associated with a software program; and   a software program execution means operative to read the location information stored in the identification storage area and to execute the software program if a current magnetic storage device includes a bad area and a bad bit at the same location as that stored in the identification storage area for said specific magnetic storage device.   
     
     
       4. An apparatus as in claim 3 wherein: the detector detects the locations of a plurality of bad bits within the bad area, wherein said identification storage area consists of said bad bit locations; and   the software program execution means executes the software program only if the current magnetic storage device includes bad bits at the same location as that stored in the identification storage area for said specific magnetic storage device.   
     
     
       5. An apparatus for identifying a specific magnetic storage device comprising: an identification storage area, associated with said specific magnetic storage device, having recorded therein a first plurality of voltages read from a specific surface area of said specific magnetic storage device at a first point in time, said voltages representing data from bad bits and bad areas stored on said magnetic storage device, wherein a detector detects a bad bit by writing a test pattern in the bad area, then reads the area where the test pattern was written, compares the test pattern read against the test pattern written, and determines a bit in the lead test pattern that does not match an associated bit in the written test pattern;   at least a first comparator operative to compare the first plurality of voltages stored in said specific magnetic storage device at a first point in time   and to compare the first plurality of voltages stored in said identification storage area with a second plurality of voltages read from a same specific surface area of a current magnetic storage device at a second point in time; and   if the first and second plurality of voltages match, then the comparator outputs an identification match signal to an associated computing system.   
     
     
       6. An apparatus as in claim 5 wherein: the first plurality of voltages are read from the specific magnetic storage device by a magnetic read head and converted into digital format by an analog-to-digital converter.   
     
     
       7. An apparatus as in claim 5 wherein: a software program is executed by the associated computer system only if the first and second plurality of voltages match after the software program is attempted to be executed.